A critical inquiry into assessing the impact of sustainable livelihoods approach in transforming people’s lives

Reducing poverty in urban areas is a growing need for governments and policy makers. The sustainable livelihoods approach (SLA) is claimed to mitigate vulnerabilities of people and it centers on understanding realities and priorities of the poor population in an urban region. It is a way of thinking about objectives of development activities, its scope and priorities. To realize the opportunities of people centric urban development, it is necessary to first acknowledge the multi-faceted nature of poverty and that the poor develop diverse and changing livelihood portfolio. SLA provides a systematic basis for identifying how people manage assets within the context of their own vulnerabilities and institutional framework. This paper assesses the impact of sustainable livelihood as a transformative change towards development.